North Side Chicago neighborhoods had record sales last year

Total home sales in nine key North Side neighborhoods hit a record of about 13,000 units last year as the median sale price for detached homes topped $1 million for the first time.

The number of sales rose 42 percent from 2020, according to data from Compass Broker Mary Jo Nathan cited by Loop North News. Fourth-quarter sales rose more than 12 percent, double the citywide increase of 6 percent. Median prices for detached homes jumped by almost a fifth to $1.1 million.

“The 2021 home sales on the North Side were the highest for the area since at least 2007,” Nathan told Loop North. “That’s as far back as our data allows us to look, but I think it is probably an all-time record for sales because so much of the volume today involves condominium units that didn’t exist 30 years ago.”

Nathan’s quarterly Chicago North Side Market Report tracks sales in Edgewater, Lake View, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square, Near North Side, North Center, Rogers Park, Uptown and West Ridge.

Nathan said the most noteworthy trend was the rebound in condo and townhome sales on the Near North Side.

“Attached home sales there were up 56.4 percent for the full year and 40.9 percent in the fourth quarter,” Nathan told Loop North. “That suggests the Near North condo market has recovered nicely after slowing substantially in 2020 when the pandemic arrived.”

Attached sales for all of 2021 totaled 11,584 units, a rise of 44 percent from the prior year.

Chicago’s strong luxury market has carried into the new year, with seven homes selling for over $7 million as of Jan. 26. Last year, 101 homes sold for at least $4 million, almost double the amount in 2019.

Homes sold in an average of 59 days in the fourth quarter, down from 93 days in 2020.

[Loop North News] — Harrison Connery